The PlayStation VR system is seemingly headed for success, as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO and president Jim Ryan said in an interview with CNBC that the company is expecting to sell "many hundreds of thousands" units of the virtual reality headset upon its launch.
"We know from the data we have from pre-orders that the interest we have is significant," said Ryan. As such, Sony has decided to increase production levels of the PlayStation VR so that the company would be able to keep up with the demand for the device.
The increased production capacity will kick in near the end of the year and into next year, Ryan said, which would release more PlayStation VR units into the market. Whether the increased production for the virtual reality headset will be able to meet customer demand, however, remains to be seen.
Sony is hoping that the demand for the PlayStation VR will continue the momentum of its video game division, which allowed the company to book a surprisingly positive first quarter for the fiscal year 2016, which covers April to June.
Analysts expected Sony to report a $323 million loss for the quarter, but Sony instead reported a $205 million profit, largely buoyed by the $427 million operating income of its game and network services. This figure made up 78 percent of the $546 million in operating income that Sony booked for the quarter.
According to research from SuperData, overall sales for the PlayStation VR this year could reach 2.6 million units. There have been 40 million PlayStation 4 consoles sold, and even if just a small percentage of the console owners would purchase the virtual reality headset, Sony will already be looking at a good number of sales.
It should also be noted that Sony will making a profit on each unit sold of the PlayStation VR, which would further boost the company's bottom line.
"We're making money on the VR console," said Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman and Sony Interactive Entertainment America president Shawn Layden, which is significant because most gaming hardware represents a loss for the company at the point of sale. The losses are then recouped by video game companies through software sales.
This is not the case for the PlayStation VR, Layden said, and in fact, even the PlayStation 4 is contributing profit to the company on a per unit basis.
The PlayStation VR has officially been released for $399, with gamers also having the option of a $499 bundle that includes the required PlayStation Camera and a pair of Move controllers. Reviews have stated that the virtual reality headset is technically inferior to competitors such as the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, but it makes for a great entry point into virtual reality for PlayStation 4 owners and comes with an amazing lineup of games from its PlayStation heritage.
